Countdown to Roth: Days 88 to 77

Another couple of weeks down, mostly a good couple of weeks but still up and down with a cold, as you'll see...

88 days to go - training gear packed.

You learn a lot from training for Ironman. One of the things you don't expect is you get really good at time management, but you have to plan ahead to be able to fit the volume of training in. Here I've got my training gear ready for the next morning, my clothes packed to shower at work, plus gear for training after work.

87 days to go - the first time I'd seen a live TV cross

I realised when I ran past this live cross for Ten's Breakfast show that I'd never seen a live cross in all my years running along the Brisbane River - and yet breakfast TV cross to locations along the river all the time. It wasn't much of a spectacle, no celebs there...

85 days to go - a reminder from the Challenge Family via Facebook.

"What a peaceful picture, in only 85 days it's going to be a lot different!" their caption read on Facebook. The picture didn't incite much peace in me. I was fighting off a cold again!

84 days to go - echinacea and siberian ginseng tea, with vitamins on the side.

83 days to go. I tested things out with a short session on the home trainer watching the cricket!

 I didn't feel so hot after that, thus my next photo a couple of days later...

81 days to go. Tomato soup for lunch. Go away cold!!

Idle threats worked some, so that weekend I got a good couple of rides in. One included a stretch out to Redland Bay...

77 days to go. I'm guessing this isn't an official welcome... nice.

So with a 140k bike with short run off it, at 77 days to go I felt hopeful and ready to charge into it.